Another factor leading to early commitments is that the college programs want to know whether a kid is interested in time to go to bachelor # 2 if first choice says no. Because if the college waits, # 2 may be off the market, committed to someone else.
And if # 1 elects to wait, he should understand that his college may commit to # 2 and the opportunity may disappear.
We are very careful to run kids through a battery of questions and options before advising them to make very early commitments. But there are going to be many cases where the fit is right for both sides and there's no real reason to wait.
That being said, I am beginning to wonder how far back in the pipeline this trend is going to go before it caps out, or whether we might start seeing more and more deals reneged upon as this continues to increase. There comes a point where I think everyone would benefit from a ban on offers prior to some specific point in time. I honestly don't see any reason why anyone should have to commit before Sept. 1 of sophomore year and truly those should be few and far between. If there were a rule of Jan. 1 of sophomore year, or even July 1 after sophomore year, I think the benefits would outweigh any negative effects.
Though you could then expect a frenzy of activity at midnight of the day offers were permitted.